FOCUS POLITICS Harish Gupta
How to deal with the Rajya Sabha is a challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi
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To keep his words, Modi can’t be over-sensitive to those who want him to pretend to be a nice guy. It will neither help him, nor the nation
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With the anniversary of the Narendra Modi government just a week away, the “cultured” Indian — mostly English-educated secular liberal — discreetly looks the other way when conversation moves towards the obvious — how should one rate the Prime Minister’s performance?
The fact that he has become quieter of late is due to a question growing in his mind — was the last year of the Manmohan Singh government better than the first year under Modi? Liberal opinion in the capital has never been divided on Manmohan Singh, the individual. There is unequivocal respect for the economist, tinged with sadness at his total sidelining and even humiliation in the second and last phase of his tenure. But the government he presided over was a nightmare that even liberals will take a long time to forget. It was during UPA-2 rule that the growth engines of the economy shut down one after another. If the economy is still limping, it is widely known when it was clubbed and by whom.
The perpetrators of the 2009-14 economic catastrophe, though severely decimated in the Lok Sabha elections, are still dominating the Rajya Sabha. Makers of the Constitution insisted on a bicameral parliament to give the states an equal voice as the Centre, the Upper House being named the Council of States. So it reflects the ratios of political parties’ power in the state assemblies, where elections follow their own sequence.
Routing of the Congress in the Lower House therefore does not necessarily spell any doom in the Upper House. Currently, the hard core of anti-BJP opposition (Congress, Left, SP etc) has a strength of 107 in the house of 244 which includes 10 nominated members. Therefore, the BJP needed time to bargain with a slew of regional parties who admire PM Narendra Modi for his cooperative federalism.
The Congress with its strength of 68 has succeeded in spreading panic in the BJP ranks because the latter needed time to win over the likes of TMC, BJD and AIADMK. It is unlikely in the given sequence of assembly elections that the BJP will be able to reach the figure of 100 by year 2019 — when Modi faces his next test for the Lok Sabha. The Congress strength, however, will come down drastically as it is losing state after state.
However, Modi has a task before him, which is that of inviting new investments and creating jobs. It is not possible to progress an inch in this direction if the UPA legacy of an investment-choking land acquisition law cannot be rectified. While it is easy for Modi’s critics to make fun of him for his frequent foreign travels, they overlook the fact that one of the constant refrains of his interactions with foreign dignitaries has been to plead with them for investment in India. It is well-known that he is keen on Japanese, Chinese and Euro-American companies lining up along the proposed Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor. That may look like a big parcel of land, about 2,800sq km, but what is it against the background of India’s gigantic size? Just a speck.
Modi’s first year has been unproductive in terms of big ticket reforms, due to a Rajya Sabha-inflicted policy paralysis which can be fought within the Constitution, but adopting a more muscular strategy. In his second year in office, Modi will have no alternative to play the tough ruler which everyone thought before the General Elections that he’d be, if he won. The trouble is, after winning election, he developed, quite inexplicably, a sense of awe about the trappings of democracy. He spent months arguing within himself perhaps about political correctness of his actions. Meanwhile a handful of young and privileged Congress leaders, with limited stake in pulling the nation out of a quagmire of unemployment (job meant to them hundred days’ work of digging earth), planned they’d stall every piece of reformist legislation until the public is sufficiently confused to point a finger at none but Modi for his policy paralysis. This is despite the boot being on the other foot.
In the monsoon session, if Modi assumes a no-nonsense persona, the Parliament may witness a series of joint sessions called by the President. Under Art 118, the President can call joint session on any bill which does not involve a Constitution amendment. In a joint session, the combined NDA strength of 335, besides the closet supporters (in both houses) numbering nearly a hundred and NDA’s own strength in the Rajya Sabha will ensure passage of most of the contentious bills including the land acquisition bill.
Besides, it is time India understood the limitations of the Westminster style democracy that has made the executive shun strong actions. During the 1975 Emergency, Indira Gandhi used 38th Constitutional amendment to insert a new clause (4) in Article 123 that put the ordinance-making power of the President of India beyond any judicial review. In 1978, following the defeat of Indira Gandhi, the clause was deleted and the possibility of judicial review was reopened.
Significantly, the public hailed re-imposing curb of ordinances because of their rampant misuse during the Emergency, in keeping the Fundamental Rights under suspension, or muzzling the Press. As the DC Wadhwa Versus State of Bihar case (1989) showed, there was an “Ordinance Raj” prevailing in the state, with an ordinance issued by successive Presidents lasting for as long as 14 years. But it cannot be anybody’s argument that the ordinance-making power of the government will remain unavailable to it if there is a political plot to torpedo its development agenda by a group operating out of the Rajya Sabha.
Modi won the election a year ago promising that he’d make India regain its self-confidence as a nation and will pull in the slack of the past few years. To keep his words, Modi can’t be over-sensitive to those who want him to pretend to be a nice guy. It will neither help him, nor the nation.
